learn from

learn from (someone or something)

1. To acquire knowledge, wisdom, or experience from someone or something. I learned from the greatest still-life painter in the world. I'm trying to learn from my past mistakes.
2. To glean or acquire specific knowledge, wisdom, or experience from someone or something. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "learn" and "from." I'm going to be sad to see you go, boss—I've learned everything I know about the business world from you. I'm learning a lot about the way this works just by watching what other people do.
See also: learn
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

learn something from someone or something

to find out something from someone or something. I don't know when the children are due to arrive. See what you can learn from Walter. lam sure we can learn something from this experience.
See also: learn

learn from someone or something

to learn [something] from the experience of someone or something. Pay attention to what Sarah does. I think you can learn from her. This was quite an experience, and we all can learn from it.
See also: learn
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • learn from (someone or something)
  • open the eyes of (someone)
  • open the eyes of someone
  • worldly wisdom
  • sit for portrait
  • get an/the edge on (someone or something)
  • get an/the edge over (someone or something)
  • get the advantage over (someone or something)
  • get the draw on
  • keep the wolf from the door, to
References in classic literature
Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them.' Isn't that worth learning, Aunt Jimsie?"
Beyond simply recording what they observe and do, they are instructed to reflect on what they can learn from their experiences.
Adults should have as much choice as possible in the availability and organization of learning programs." (9) Participants who learn from purposeful teaching tend to become lifelong learners who seek further educational and training opportunities, and they also lean toward modeling these behaviors in their own teaching and managerial roles.
Hackett and Byars (1996) offered the example of how an African American girl may learn from experiencing subtle racism or sexism in the classroom that her academic efforts and performance will not be equitably rewarded.
General Electric's Jack Welch makes this point clear with his thought, "Our behavior is driven by a fundamental core belief: the desire and ability of our organization to continually learn from any source--and the ability to rapidly convert this learning into action--is its ultimate competitive advantage."
He believed that no child could learn from teaching.
This example illustrates the conclusion we reached regarding employee training: Employees will learn best if they learn from experience.
The ability to learn from experience and subsequently use what is learned is a critical part of human intelligence.
It can be defined as a teaching and learning pedagogy, connecting discipline-specific theories to real-life problems or issues; a practical and direct application of resources from an educational institution to a community to address a defined need, with the expectation that, in turn, students will learn from their experience; and, a mechanism for translating what we know about civics and our country's history into action (Goldsmith, 2005).
Although teachers have the overall responsibility for leading a learning activity, the adult education philosophy espouses that everyone has something to teach and to learn from each other.
I suggest that each learning station have concrete (objects, items, and realia) for pupils to learn from. These concrete materials stimulate and motivate pupil learning.
Students learn from their interpretations and creations in the ISP.
The term service-learning attempts to couple two complex concepts: "community action, the 'service,' and efforts to learn from that action, and connect what is learned to existing knowledge, the 'learning'" (Stanton, Giles, & Cruz, 1999, p.
As EFL learners, the Chinese students had the opportunity to practice and enhance their English skills while, at the same time, share with and learn from people in another country about their culture and ways of life.
According to Bandura's social learning theory (1977), people can learn from observing others without trials and errors.